A couple months ago I read in a New York Times Health article that the majority of the pleasure one takes in a vacation actually does not occur while on the vacation but in the preparation and time leading up to the vacation. And I've been thinking about this health study as I have been preparing for my own summer vacation, mainly I've been thinking about this article as various and random obstacles have arisen in my planning. It might be worse, come to think of it, that I know that the majority of the pleasure in a vacation actually occurs in the planning stage. Good grief--I hope that's not true!
But I trust the Lord much more than I do the New York Times, I hope, and I am called to believe that the Lord's plans are good. I find it ironic that as I plan the perhaps singlemost important and potentially restful period of my entire year, I've been challenged, yet again, to think about what "rest" really is, which just happens to be at the core of UCO's Summer Household teaching program on Ephesians.
I find that the Lord is filling out my understanding of rest through the challenges I've been facing with my vacation plans. True rest comes from trusting in the Lord, and this true rest, as one friend put it earlier this week, is to be fought for, needs to be fought for. They were right to point out that my rest has been under attack, and that God is calling me to fight for it.
Summer Household is wrapping up, and so we've been focusing on "standing" in the Lord, chapter 6 of Ephesians: standing up to the Enemy, spiritual attacks on our identity in Christ. As I "stand" in this fight to "rest," I am reminded that the "rest" I fight for is much more significant than a vacation in July; the rest I fight for is a more eternal rest which comes from the conviction that God's promises are true, that He has good things for His children, that He is to be trusted, that Jesus Christ died and rose again for our salvation. But it's creative on His part to make this fight tangible, to teach me this lesson about rest, through this very real situation of planning a literal vacation, with all its practicals, communications, financial aspects, etc. That is our God. :)
And God never promised me the world's version of a peaceful vacation; He actually promised me just the opposite: "Peace I leave, peace I give to you, not as the world gives." So, we shall see just how peaceful this July vacation is. I think it may be epic, if the grief leading up to it has been any indication of how restful it will be. This vacation may just prove the NY Times wrong.
